Spinach_Indeed

In the film Fight Club, the real name of the protagonist (Ed Norton’s character) is never revealed. Many believe the reason behind this anonymity is to give "Jack" more of an everyman quality. Do not be deceived. "Jack" is really Calvin from the comic strip Calvin and Hobbes. It’s true. Norton portrays the grown-up version of Calvin, while Brad Pitt plays his imaginary pal, Hobbes, reincarnated as Tyler Durden.

Part I: The Hobbes-Tyler Connection
Picture this: a hyper, self-absorbed child initially concocts an imaginary friend as the ideal playmate, to whom more realistic qualities soon become attributed. This phantasm becomes a completely separate personality, with his own likes, dislikes, and temperament—and the imaginer and the imagined clash and argue constantly, though remaining fast friends. This pattern continues to the point where the child begins to perceive what was originally mere fantasy to be reality.

Just as Calvin has an imaginary jungle-animal friend named Hobbes, whom everyone else believes to be nothing but a stuffed toy, "Jack" in Fight Club has an imaginary cool-guy friend named Tyler, whom no one but Jack can see.

In both cases, the entity that began as the ideal companion soon took on a more realistic, three-dimensional quality. In other words, they became real. This is evident in that both Hobbes and Tyler also began to function as scapegoats for their creators. For instance, consider that Calvin often blames broken lamps and other assorted household mischief on Hobbes, and that Jack is inclined to believe that Fight Club and other various anti-society mischief is brought about by Tyler, not himself. Calvin claims Hobbes pounces on him every day after school; Jack believes Tyler beats him up next to 40 kilotons of nitroglycerin in a parking garage—the list goes on and on. The relationships between the two sets of friends are the exact same. Is this mere coincidence?


Filling in the time-gap between Calvin and Jack, we can imagine the story as something like this: Once Calvin reaches the hostile environment known as the seventh grade, the constant teasing from the other students and the frustrated concern of his parents finally becomes too much, and a reluctant, disillusioned Calvin is finally forced to grow up, or at least begin to. This decision is sealed by one of the hardest things young Calvin will ever have to do in his life: un-imagine Hobbes, an act which to Calvin is essentially no different from murder. After being Calvin’s best friend for over a decade, Hobbes is packed away in a box, or tossed carelessly into a garbage bag, perhaps even stuffed under the same bed that once contained so many monsters. This is all, of course, very painful for Calvin, so much so that he represses it all in shame. Little does Calvin suspect that while he is busy growing up, deciding what "dinette set defines him as a person," Hobbes is also maturing in the recesses of his mind, waiting to be unleashed at an appropriate time.

It’s worth noting that during these twenty or so years, Hobbes never bears a grudge against Calvin nor wishes any ill upon him. Hobbes, remembering the depth of their past friendship, does not hate Calvin but rather hates the society that made Calvin put him away. Hobbes, residing in Calvin’s mind, sees and experiences all that Calvin does—and truly despises all of it. He witnesses a bright, superbly imaginative kid (with a genius-level vocabulary) reduced to nothing more than another nameless cog. Fighting off the tears wept for his conventionalized pal, Hobbes resolves to set Calvin free, paying special attention when Calvin idly looks up homemade-napalm recipes on the Internet.

Flash forward to the timeframe depicted in Fight Club. Calvin/Jack has reached an all-time low. He has done everything society has told him to do but is completely void of happiness. Hobbes, newly adjusted as "Tyler Durden" (after all, grown-up Calvin would no longer accept a jungle animal walking, talking, and eating canned tuna), re-enters Calvin/Jack’s life, determined to show Calvin everything he’s done wrong, whether he likes it or not.


Tyler to Jack: "I look like you wanna look, I fuck like you wanna fuck, I’m smart, capable, and most importantly, I’m free in all the ways you wish you could be."

Calvin has always idolized Hobbes. In Weirdos From Another Planet, he dresses up like a tiger and attempts to live in the woods. Like Hobbes, Tyler is cool, collected, and incredibly cerebral. Given this evidence, one can conclude that Tyler is Hobbes, reincarnated after being trapped inside Calvin/Jack’s brain for so many years. Just as Calvin is Jack, Hobbes is Tyler.

------------

The selection above is part of a Discussion in which it dismantle all of the Charectors of Calvin and Hobbes and places them in a the Fight Club world. Includes selection involving the undoing of Moe and Susie Derkins and an early carnation of Fight Club (G.R.O.S.S) and more.

To read the full article:
http://www.metaphilm.com/philms/fightclub.html

Discuss

__________________
Spinach in Need is Spinach Indeed

Mr.Deflok

Thing is, you can take any idea or theme from any novel ever written and you can deduce any type of complex theorem around it. Personally I feel people look far too much into literary works, sure we authors do like to use symbolysm and hidden messages but people still read too much into our words.

However I find this post to be rather interesting.

Spartak

I have very little knowledge or appreciation of Calvin and Hobbes, so unfortunately that theory makes absolutely no sense to me, except the whole "Yeah, some guy made up an imaginary friend just like in the cartoon strip" deal.

Looks well thought out though.

__________________
I can read your mind... looking at you... I can read your mind...

more fire

yes.

Charlatan

After the end of Fight Club, when Calvin realizes he’s effectively killed Hobbes twice now, do you really think he’ll still be "okay"?


I think "Jack" is going to be OK. He is going to go to jail where many of the inmates will know of "Tyler Durden" and will worship/fear him. He will rise up as kick ass leader on the cell block - sodomizing whomever he wishes...

Tragically he will be shot in a prison riot of his making.

__________________
"My hands are on fire. Hands are on fire. Ain't got no more time for all you charlatans and liars."
- Old Man Luedecke

Spinach_Indeed

I quite agree. There are some people that swear that Lord of the Rings is a view of our future, years ahead. Some people are convinced that Ben Hur is a Film about Homosexual acceptance.

I can't tell whether the writer of this article is taking himself seriously or not. But either way, it's an interesting read.

__________________
Spinach in Need is Spinach Indeed

troit

I agree with Spinach -- an interesting read. Now I just need to figure out if its such an interesting read because of my love of the comic strip, a fascination with the movie or a combination of the both of them.

__________________
I've yet to dephile myself...

Sparhawk

haha...

__________________
"In Iraq, no doubt about it, it's tough. It's hard work. It's incredibly hard. It's - and it's hard work. I understand how hard it is. I get the casualty reports every day. I see on the TV screens how hard it is. But it's necessary work. We're making progress. It is hard work."

jhericurl21

never thought of it, great read

BenChuy

It is a great theory, but it sucks as to the way it says that it <b>IS</b> what it is. Fantastic read, but I think that it was worded wrong...
and submitted to the wrong forum. Should be in Philosophy

RedCometChar

A well-considered argument, but it doesn't hold water, I'm afraid. After all, Hobbes is real.

__________________
Killing that robot makes me want to go home.

Mr. Spacemonkey

I must say, i find this comparison very interesting, being the obsessed fan of fight club that i am.

__________________
"I hope that when the world comes to an end, I can breathe a sigh of relief, because there will be so much to look forward to." -- Donnie Darko

nostalgic1

i found it very interesting as well... but i'm more a fan of fight club than calvin and hobbes... so not all of this made sense to me...

hmm..

__________________
I dare you to forget the marks you left across my neck from those nights when we were both found at our best. Now I could make this obvious, and you..you could deny me all in one breath. You could shrug me off your shoulders. Just forget me.. it's that simple.

dogma13554u

this is great!
messed up . . . but great